


Blood Sacrifice

by neko_kirin3104



Series: Blood Red [4]
Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, M/M, One Shot, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-25
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-27 15:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neko_kirin3104/pseuds/neko_kirin3104
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alpha never forgives. A hunter never forgets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood Sacrifice

 

The moment Nino heard the second set of gunshots, he knew for sure what was going down tonight.

The suspicion had begun gnawing at him the moment Nishikido failed to call him at the appointed time to tell him that the back-up he had asked for had arrived.

They did arrive, but someone else had gotten to them first—

 

 

_The sound of the bell announcing his first customer was especially loud that morning, thrumming inside Nino’s head and provoking his migraine ten-folds. He did not want to face anybody today, much less the man who had just walked in for his usual pastry stop. But since his partner, Ohno, was_ incapacitated _from last night’s perilous hunt, he got stuck with morning duties at the bakeshop fronting their hunting operations, willingly yielding his supposed day-off like he always did, always would, for Oh-chan._

_Jun Matsumoto approached the counter, one hand buried deep inside his pants pocket, the other casually rubbing the lapel of his flawless white shirt. He had a faraway look in his eyes, gazing straight through Nino without really seeing. His face looked paler, more wraith-like than normal. And yet, he managed to maintain that regal air about him that was both awe-inspiring and menacing, wordlessly announcing to anyone who knew just what position he held within his secret little society of lycan wolves._

_Nino’s heart began thumping painfully against his chest when he did not see the goofy-looking man who usually came with the Alpha. The airhead with the ready smile and friendly way of speech that contrasted completely with his friend_ , _his lover, who seemed to save his words only for the worthy few._

_Nino tried to act as naturally cheerful as he could, even manning up enough to ask the question though he already knew, and already dreaded the answer, “Where’s Aiba-san?”_

_The Alpha did not say a single word, just kept his quiet gaze trained on the hunter who was gradually wilting up inside. It was becoming much too obvious to Nino how helpless he was at that point, without an ally or a weapon at his disposal. His body was tensing up, becoming more aware of how easy it was for Matsumoto to reach across the counter and break his neck with a single flick of his elegant wrist, and no one would be the wiser to suspect him for it._

_No one but Ohno..._

_The stupid, bastard Ohno, who had never once listened to his advice!_

_Nino got too focused, too lost in his desperate attempt to match the glint of warning in Matsumoto’s eyes with his own brand of fearless defiance, that it took him a moment to realize the Alpha had began to speak—_

_Matsumoto was already gone, the sound of the bell chiming the only indication that he was ever there, when his words finally sank into Nino’s mind, making the hunter reel back and lean against the wall behind him, gasping as though he had just been punched in the gut._

_“You have gone too far this time.”_

_The words lingered in Nino’s head, like a vicious hemorrhage slowly draining him of life. He had never trembled as hard as he did that day. Then again, he had never looked death straight in the eye and survived like he just did._

_The Alpha knew who they were, perhaps had always known it._

_The realization shattered Nino’s illusions of their anonymity faster than he could catch his own breath._

_The police found the body a couple of hours later, and the goofy face Nino had become familiar with was plastered all over the news immediately thereafter._

_Masaki Aiba, the amiable pet shop owner, was found dead in an alley right beside his own house._

_The alley where Satoshi Ohno had almost lost his life last night._

_The same alley where Sho Sakurai’s betrayal of his kind finally culminated to the most unforgivable crime._

_Nino knew right then and there they were living on borrowed time._

_And he decided to do what he could, what he knew he should, to protect the one man who had ever given him a reason to fight for his life..._

 

 

Nino muffled his screams with his own hands as he tripped on another corpse on his way to find the gunshot source.

This time, he could hardly keep his sobs down as Maruyama’s lifeless eyes stared right at him from an almost decapitated head. He was the seventh dead comrade Nino had met in the woods tonight.

Seven of their finest hunters dead in a single hour, by a single wicked hand. Their mangled bodies carelessly scattered on the ground, looking especially gruesome among the trees, under the bright slivers of moonlight.

Guilt began to fill Nino’s heart as he struggled to his feet, his head pounding with rage, his trembling lips screaming out Matsumoto’s name in anguish.

No.

No.

NO!

This was definitely not what they had agreed on—

 

 

_Jun Matsumoto was only ten when he first shifted._

_A mob of hunters had come to his house on the night of his sister’s birthday and killed his family in cold-blood._

_It wasn’t even a full moon, then. Humans were sneaky like that._

_But they were fools, too. For they had completely discounted Jun’s potential of becoming an exceptional beast._

_For lycan wolves did not really need a full moon to shift. And Jun was just a child, then. His potentials were unbridled. Inhibitions, non-existent._

_His transformation had been forced, and he himself could not control it._

_Jun Matsumoto made quite a legend of himself that night, ripping apart heads, limbs and hearts of a hundred hunters twice and thrice his age._

_Nino’s parents had been one of them. He was also only ten when he found out what his mom and dad did when they went away for weeks—to_ “work” _, they often said—leaving him in a random relative’s care._

_Nino himself became a different kind of beast that day, vowing to do everything he could to take down this arrogant monster who had anchored his fame on the blood of his beloved parents._

_He had trained himself until blood literally rolled from his pores, had learned everything he could about these creatures until his brain practically bled out through his nose._

_It hadn’t been easy. And he soon realized it was close to impossible when he first came to witness Jun Matsumoto’s real strength. The beast, in the guise of an innocent tourist, had killed Masahiro Matsuoka, this town’s former Alpha, in a split-second burst of anger over the equally merciless man’s persistent violence towards his own mate._

_Nino had planned to kill Matsumoto then, but ended up backing away in fear. And also because Ohno had pulled him out and ran away with him before Matsumoto could catch a whiff of their scents._

_From then on, he knew Satoshi Ohno was going to be his weakness. The one man who could ever make him fear for his life, because he suddenly realized he didn’t want to die if it meant leaving his Oh-chan behind in the middle of all this shit._

_Coincidentally, Jun Matsumoto also found his own weakness that day in the former Alpha’s mate._

_Masaki Aiba was to Matsumoto as Satoshi Ohno was to Nino._

_Except that Aiba reciprocated the new Alpha’s affections, and Ohno..._

_Ohno went and fell in love with someone else._

_Someone who’s life, as far as Nino was concerned, had been extended for far too long..._

 

 

The hunter ran through the woods in search of his prey, his eyes blurred by tears for a hundred different reasons he could not begin to comprehend.

_“It was Sho Sakurai. He killed Aiba-san.”_

The words echoed in his head over and over, his own voice sounding foreign to his ears, as his legs began to burn from each hurried stride.

_“He’s the one you should take your revenge out on.”_

He had come to Matsumoto of his own will, in a final desperate attempt to save Satoshi Ohno’s life, with every single evidence that the cunning police officer-slash-murderer had tried to cover up.

He had known Oh-chan was going to hate him for it. He was already hating himself for it.

_“Leave Ohno alone, you hear?”_

But if there was even the tiniest chance that he could ever spare Oh-chan from death, just long enough to let the man know of his true affections and thus feel loved for once in his life, he’d willingly take it.

He would blindly throw anybody under the Alpha’s vengeful claws for it.

_“Thank you,”_ Matsumoto had said, his face cold and rigid like ice. _“I’ll take care of it.”_

He should’ve really known better than to trust a beast—

 

 

_Nino didn’t need to be nearby to know what Matsumoto and Sakurai had talked about when the latter came to visit the former’s house._

_When he saw Sho Sakurai walk out through the gates, alive and in one piece, though with a visibly troubled look on his face, Nino had known the Alpha was not going to honor their deal._

_And he had merely smirked because it struck him hard, for the first time, how their minds seemed to be working on equal planes._

_Except that one of them had been a step ahead all along..._

 

 

Sho Sakurai was never going to live beyond this night. The bereaved Alpha had made sure of this.

It was the ultimate act of revenge, to send the man who had killed his beloved after the hunter Sakurai himself loved in turn. And then shoot him dead from behind, with a hunter’s gun Matsumoto had taken from one of the corpses he had mercilessly hacked to pieces.

The moment Nino heard the second set of gunshots, he knew for sure what was going down tonight.

“MATSUMOTO!!!” Nino snarled through his teeth as he finally came face to face with the Alpha, who had already shed his human skin and was standing in all his lycan savageness under the light of the full moon.

Nino’s insides trembled at the sight. His knees almost buckled from under him when the beast turned its head up to the sky and let out a long, heart-wrenching howl.

His breath came out in cold puffs when the woods began to echo the ferocious noise from all directions.

It was a signal of grief over a fallen comrade.

It was also a call to arms, and Matsumoto’s pack had been prepared for it, had been waiting for it.

And Nino was going to be caught in the middle of it all, with only the mangled remains of his crew, and a puny glock inside his jacket pocket.

The beast finally met Nino’s burning gaze, baring his fangs in an insolent sneer.

The hunter took out his gun and cocked it, not breaking eye contact. Trying to muster up every drop of courage left in his body into the defiant glare he was barely able to keep on his face.

Jun Matsumoto did not just plan to avenge his mate tonight. He was also going to start something else.

Something bigger...

And Nino wasn’t going to allow that. Even if it meant losing his life over it.

He’s finally going to kill the Alpha. Tonight—

#

**Author's Note:**

> written for [je-prompts](http://je-prompts.livejournal.com) for the prompt _Side_.


End file.
